* Posts by paul

242 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Jan 2008

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Windows 7 and the Linux lesson

paul
Flame

Winblows

"simple tasks like changing a volume label."

Thats a really simple task for my mum.

A) She doesn't know what a volume is (its not to do with sound)

B) What a label is (whats in a name?)

C) Why would she want to do that anyway?

Besides you dont have to go into the terminal to do that anyway...............(again more myths)

Jaunty is pretty neat - hardware support much better and lots and lots of bugfixes , pulseaudio now it works properly is great. +1 feature for linux

Ballmer disses Oracle's decision to buy Sun

paul
IT Angle

innovation

"You'll see us innovating in search," he said

Their new innovation is real time searching for flying chairs?

Blu-ray to boom despite downturn

paul

xbox

My xbox hasn't got blu ray - therefore its doomed to failure. [/s]

Microsoft extends Red-Ring-of-Death cover to fresh Xbox fault

paul
IT Angle

all 3 consoles

PS3 going strong after a year and a bit.

Wii had problems reading Super Smash Bros game - different type of disk and nintendo fixed it even after it was nearly two years old. Bad point - it took them 11 yes 11 weeks.

Xbox arcade - sold as far to noisy and Im not paying for live. (Little / no dedicated servers)

Play unveils AspireRevo launch date

paul
Thumb Up

good good linux version

I want one to connect to MythTV - the Nvidia graphics helps nicely with the decoding of HDTV.

Well done for not putting in the windows tax.

The Netbook Newbie's Guide to Linux

paul
IT Angle

@AC

there are lots of versions of linux - and you are aware there are more than one version of windows? Would this bluetooth work if plugged into windows 95 - no. Windows 98 - no. Windows 2000 - no. XP - probably. Vista - probably.

Like I said , there are lots of linuxes. Its just a pity that Acer have a crap one.

But its ok as its linux to totally generalise and assume as it doesn't work on MY COMPUTER then it will never ever work on anyone elses.

Laptop Hunters snare Microsoft on Linux

paul

@RobD

Give me a config file over a registry edit anyday.

Report: Legalising drugs would save UK plc huge packet

paul
Coat

Daily Mail Comment

If they legalise drugs - there will be a nice industry for some home grown jobs for all our white working class people.

Then because of the bloody EU - the gypsies , polish , insert race here will come and take them all away.

Gnome answers Linux critics with 'big' vision plan

paul
Thumb Down

Nothing wrong

I think gnome is great. Nothing wrong with the way it is now. Bugfixes and a few new bits n bobs every now and again seems sensible to me.

Now we get to look forwards to something new (what is the big question) that will probably not work properly first time.

HP Mini 2140 netbook

paul
Thumb Down

ditto - screen

Best netbook HP2133 because of keyboard , screen and build quality - coupled with linux version £180.

Take the best feature (screen) and double the price. WTF are they thinking?

Pink Floyd's Gilmour backs McKinnon protest gig

paul

Good luck

Even with the legend Dave Gilmour onboard - the powers that be will not change their mind. They really have it in for him.

Good luck gary.

Blu-ray Disc added to UK shopping basket

paul
IT Angle

Price reductions will follow - news at 11

Blu Rays are getting cheaper. I see deals all the time for films less than £10. Its not DVD prices , but things are getting cheaper.

May buy my first one soon. From ones I have borrowed from friends they do look good.

Its not just some marketing gimmick. (Cough - sky hd 5mbps bandwidth upscaled SD)

So many people hate the format because of its close association with sony playstation. I would feel the same if it was an M$ job.

Stallman warns open-sourcers on Javascript-browser trap

paul
Coat

Legend

At least someone on this planet who doesn't give a shit about corporate profits.

I never understand why some many people are devoted and in love with allowing the big businesses to do whatever they want in the name of profit - to the detriment for the rest of the human race.

Why give Stallman all this grief. Your on a bloody internet site that without people like his vision of open software would not exist. You would be looking at a site on a Sky / MS / big corp only computer network with about 1% the success and size of the current open ish internet thingy.

Sky calls for access to cable network

paul
IT Angle

ha ha

Sky moaning about being open. Pot meet kettle.

I wouldn't surprise me that if you get their internet they somehow change the content some how so that it mirrors the trash in the sun.

National Express to 'ban' trainspotting

paul
Thumb Down

Keep off the trains

At several thousand pounds for a yearly train fare to London and Back from the sticks and/or £120 for a normal return (about £1 a mile) both with the added privileged of being able to sit on the floor as there are never enough seats - WHY DOES ANYONE USE THE TRAINS? Its far far cheaper , faster and easier to drive.

In addition, the govt giving the rail industry as a whole billions and billions (more than when it was nationalised) - the shareholders / top execs must be on to a big winner.

Google jacks up fees for Checkout service

paul
Thumb Down

Was thinking about using it - not now

Price hikes - I've just lost interest in deploying the service. Paypal is used just because people are familar with the name.

Proper websites use a proper payment provider - with people on call who can help you. Not paypal or google checkout - i would expect these to resolve problems in days / weeks not hours / mins.

BBC botnet investigation turns hacks into hackers

paul
Gates Horns

MS Fault

Surely if its that easy to infect machines - then why are MS not in trouble? They are the ones who make the stupid easy to hack software.

Some xbot will say otherwise - but its my view and your love fests with Balmer and Gates wont change my mind.

Channel 4 fails to open archives to Mac, Linux fans

paul
IT Angle

oh well

At least the E4 lineup and Film4 etc are on free sat away from the encryption of the sky platform (that was trying to kill the internet in 1996)

Cant believe Kangaroo was cancelled. That man murdoch is such a evil little bastard - I hope satan gives him a good roasting when his time is up.

Vodafone Music drops the protection

paul
Thumb Up

better than iTunes

They wont let you change to no drm for free.

I dont buy anything from apple iTunes even though I have its little sidekick the jesus phone.

Jobless Brits face influx of foreign IT workers

paul
Flame

gloabal economy

Its all very confusing. If people are out of work , surely they would take a pay cut to get some money rather than nothing?

So therefore - why is overseas labour cheaper? Its not like the UK has masses of labour protecting laws making them more expensive (look at germany holland france).

@Arclight - you got it spot on.

Overseas labour is less competitive due to the language barriers , social barriers , educational differences , etc etc. But the CEOs (in their infinite wisdom) just see the salary checks - not the 10 people looking after them explaning every little thing to them. Although this is only a temporary barrier and over time decreases.

At our small business we have out sourced a little work to Ukraine, very cheap.Didn't save us much as we didn't trust the code and spent a long time looking over it finding the odd problem.

iPhone monopoly-kicker starts charging for jailbreak apps

paul
Jobs Horns

@Ted

It is a monopoly depending upon how you look at things. The iphone as you may have guessed does more than make calls.

Therefore all the phones that just make calls are not in the same category. Of all the phones which allow you to install software from an online store - I would say apple has a clear monopoly as the android alternative isn't a big enough player yet.

Well down Saurik for Cydia , all competition is welcome .

The rest of you, go lie down on a mat pointing towards Cupertino , CA - look up at the big poster of steve jobs and prey to apple.

Did TomTom test Microsoft's Linux patent lock-down?

paul

monopoly abuse

As others have mentioned - Tom Tom could quite easily use another filesystem.

But as windows will need extra software for installed for this filesystem to work (expect a service pack update to break it on purpose on a 'security' basis) - this complicates things for end users.

All OSs should have a common open free filesystem with mandatory full support.

Please someone who in Govt who isn't taking a bribe. Please break that p.o.s company up.

Contractors risk mini-Microsoft-protest

paul
IT Angle

R&D

All that money $8bn - and they give us a table computer (surface) , a lock in lose a crystal, flash competitor (silverlight) and windows vista reskinned (windows 7).

Then they have the cheek to try and hit Tom Tom for using 1970s technology (FAT filesystem).

What a bunch of useless incompetent people.

iPhone surfs to mobile web domination

paul
Thumb Down

@Andy

The third party browsers are just safari with the buttons moved around.

Apple will not let another browser into the app store as they are scared of the competition , although the Apple fanboys wont admit that - they will claim security.

I have a jailbroken phone and still do not have another graphic browser and neither does anyone else. However, unsure if a text based browser like lynx has been ported.

@gerard - your right in thinking that some user agent spoofing has been going on. In addition to your windows mobile - I tried that when trying to get the 'special' bbc iplayer content on a desktop. Same boat as linux is/was.

Free TV.com comes to the iPhone

paul
Thumb Down

Hulu :(

Another cool hulu project scrapped just like Boxee. It used to be a cool site but now seems to have lost its way.

Samsung notebook-not-netbook gets VIA Nano CPU

paul
Thumb Down

c7

Is present in my netbook HP 2133. Its not a bad little chip , faster than the atom but gets a bit hotter and slightly worse for the power consumption.

Atom doesn't have out of order execution like the VIA or its bigger intel / amd cousins.

For a £200 its not bad. For a £400 machine , go take a long walk of a short pier samsung.

Hacking the Apple TV

paul
Linux

HTPC

DVI != HDMI there is no audio?

Windows Vista Media Center - doesn't that cost nearly as much as the apple TV? Doesn't it need a super computer and only stays up for 3 hours before crashing?

Run mythtv , XBMC. Dont cost a penny and will keep running until you get a power outage.

Nvidia to power Dark Knight on Vista netbooks

paul
IT Angle

@AC HP Vista Netbook

HP2133 - Its a pity they didn't sell that well - it is in my opion the best netbook (if you take vista off and put ubuntu on it)

1280x800 screen - this is the major factor why its better than the rest. Keep your 1024x600.

9" screen not as good as 10" but oh well.

VIA Nano is quicker than Atom.

Lovely aluminum sold built case with great keyboard.

Bluetooth , wi-fi , 160G HDD (ok not as good as flash).

Firefox's Fennec trots onto Windows Mobile

paul
IT Angle

vga mobiles

any other out there that done run an MS OS? 480x640 is nice I bet

Microsoft kills off public availability of Windows 7 beta

paul

pity

Having heard mixed views (ie not all bad) I was going to give it a run in a VM (although not sure if that violates any T&Cs)

I doubt I will use it until it comes with a new computer now - which by then will be to late to decide if I want it or not.

Try before you buy N/A for windows. However as Capito mentions above , I can just try linux before I buy (well buy for 0).

Nokia N85 smartphone

paul
Thumb Up

replace that jesus phone

It could be time if I can get one of these cheap.

Im assuming it supports AD2P bluetooth that the jesus phone does not. You dont mention it but I think any phone from last 3 years does minus the jesus.

FM recv and trans. Bonus.

Browser with flash. Prob not as good as safari, but you cannot have everything.

better camera. No need to use that pos iTunes.

Sign me up.

Ubuntu shops believe in Ubuntu

paul

Ubuntu server

Do they bundle pulse audio with that as well?

I quite agree its no RHEL. But the special thing about RHEL is the support. Do Shuttleworths Canolonical offer a simiar level?

EC will force users to pick a Windows browser, says Microsoft

paul
IT Angle

@Flocke Kroes

Best idea I have heard in ages.

If people had to pay MS extra money to carry on using windows. People would seriously think about alternatives. Merits of the OS , cost of the OS and need of the owner would be the major factors rather than MS money + its army of sales drones / OEMs.

Oh and for people moaning about firefox in linux, safari in mac.

* IE4 used to come bundled with a mac. MS stopped making it. Apple stopped bundling it. (Apple should bundle firefox and/or opera it you ask me)

* Firefox does come with ubuntu and most linuxs. IE and Safari are not available. The only other major browser for linux is Opera. As its not GPL / Open source it doesn't come as this would break lots of what linux stands for. Some other linux's come bundled with another browser called konqueror. (What webkit is based upon)

Time to axe Microsoft's Zune

paul
Stop

pity - competition is good

I do hate MS , but I dont want apple controlling the mobile music market.

They already have far to much influence and iTunes is such a pos. Hopefully someone else will step in and offer a bit of a fight.

Red Dwarf finally returns to Earth

paul
Heart

Boys from the dwarf

[Wave hands]

"For smegs sake I hope they leave Kochanski out of this ..."

Agreed.

Microsoft's Windows Vista 'Capable' bill could hit $8.5bn

paul
Gates Horns

Nothing will happen

MS has far to much money and far to many lawyers and pay off most internet 'journalists'

They have misled consumers - no question about that. Vista is vista - regardless of version.

I see the shills trying to defend MS - "well it can run basic but not ultimate". Or it still runs it just takes an awful long time.

PS If sony / nintendo did this the xbots would be going nuts.

Linux to spend eternity in shadow of 'little blue E'

paul
Linux

someone not reading the news

rumors have it that the EU will force firefox to be bundled with windows. What about the big blue E?

besides - linux is already installed in more devices than windows. (just not desktop computers)

Samsung Android to land within months?

paul
Thumb Up

good good

Im after an android phone to replace the jesus one I carry around with me.

"A2DP Bluetooth" something i really want from a 'music' phone - oh and the ability to just play mp3 files without having to make love to iTunes.

The Netbook Newbie's Guide to Linux

paul
IT Angle

Big PDFs Not a problem for me

running ubuntu 8.10 using the document viewer (evince) 2.24.1

Bugs tend to get fixes pretty quickly in open source as anyone can make the fix.

Jaunty Jackalope alpha 3 spotted in wild

paul

Video drivers in time for release

As mentioned this in the article, this is only an alpha release.

Hopefully Nvidia will release a newer driver that supports new version of Xorg between now and march.

Toshiba NB100 netbook

paul
Gates Horns

@Torben

Totally agree - screen resolution is very important - more so than most other factors.

I got myself an HP 2133 netbook with 1280x800 for £200 running suse linux (now it runs ubuntu v well) - the vista edition was £400 (ebuyer)

NC10 screen is 1024x600 unless Im mistaken.

Mozilla delays third Firefox 3.1 beta

paul
Heart

love the fox.

Yes it uses a lot of my RAM but I want it to.

My computer doesn't do anything else apart from surf the web and play a few MP3s. I've had the same firefox session open for a few weeks at a time no problems. Not had any websites that render badly for years now.

Sony intros 8in notebook-not-netbook

paul
IT Angle

not sure if good / bad

Good:

Screen resolution -I have a HP netbook with 1280x800 and a EEE with 800x480 - the difference is major.

Quick Boot to internet.

N wi fi

Bad:

Price

Vista (well for me it is anyway - prepares to be flamed by balmer bum boys)

Unknown CPU - atom or core2 is a big difference. Atom isn't going to make vista fly now is it.

Sony exploding batteries (joke! - but makes the xbots feel better)

Apple more closed than Microsoft

paul
Jobs Horns

@Lionel

"I detest the fact that people don’t even realize that you can very easily add songs to ipods from just for example Winamp,"

Not with new ipods and iphones you cant. Apple changed itunes db format (again). New firmware broke iphone, new itouch has it built in. Apple have then started legal action against anyone who tries to reverse engineer.

Nintendo in profit on each Wii sold

paul

Game attach rates are old skool

Downloads are nearly as important - they are big money makers (no distribution costs, manufacting , returns etc etc)

PS3 full games can be bought on the PSN. Wii has the virtual console which rakes it in for little outlay for nintendo. Xbox gets its money from subscriptions.

Basically all consoles are doing well because the whole video game industry is booming. (even with credit crunch , people stay in more). Despite what the xbots say, no console not even the 360 will dominate. Im glad , competition is great.

P.s. for the geeks - Tux on a ps3 is getting better. 256mb Ram has now been added to buy allowing the graphics memory also 256mb to be used as swap.

There are video decoding methods using the CELL now. Mythtv runs quite nicely on it. But no 3D graphics (yet) - anyway its a damm sight faster than xebian for my original xbox. (But that did have a very nice video output)

Windows internet share drops below 90 per cent

paul

More than that

My linux firefox sometimes identifies itself as a windows xp ie 6 machine - so I can get past some stupid sites with iE only checks. Im not the only one.

Grand Theft Auto IV PC debut gets SecuROM sideshow

paul
Stop

Console ++

No thankyou Rockstar , Im not buying anything with DRM.

Clamshell 'iPhone' appears online

paul
Jobs Horns

Bluetooth

Something the jesus phone doesn't do very well if at all. My jailbroken iPhone is waiting for the clever people to figure out how to make bluetooth file transfers possible.

Apart from mobile safari, the iPhone has nothing much going for it these days.

The Netbook Newbie's Guide to Linux

paul

Obligatory Comments

"linux is crap , rah rah rah. "

Well with that out of the way, linux comes in many many different flavours. yes the xandros supplied linux on the eee pc isn't that great. But its reasonably stable and trouble free.

I installed ubuntu netbook on my eee pc - looks great. But wireless problems are ruining it for me. Im waiting for ubuntu 8.10 version of netbook remix with better hardware support (open source version of wi fi driver meaning problems fixed in days not months/years)

Meanwhile my HP 2133 netbook with FULL ubuntu 8.10 is superb (it has 1280x800 9 inch screen) - No wi fi problems :)

Asus Eee PC S101 luxury netbook

paul

HP 2133

Just got one for £200 (linux version , vista £400). Has not got an atom processor (via c7 1.2ghz) but has a nicer 1280x800 screen. 1024x600 is crap for a 'luxury' model. HP now running Ubuntu 8.10 - lovely OS saving £200.

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